Another huge, incredibly distressing, gap in my blog. This
summer I’ve been very busy, annoyingly busy in fact. Rather than spending time
lounging around I’ve been working a lot, in and out of London, in and out of
the country; lots of excitement and lots of pain… This seems to be a recurring segment
in my summers at the moment it seems, sigh… I haven’t written much in months.
As the days continue forward I find myself not wanting to write, but when I
eventually do, like I am right now, I remember that it’s fucking great and I
should get back to doing it weekly. So, in an effort to do that, I’m going to
dive into a huge back log of press releases, literally filling my entire
backpack, picking out the best ones to write about, and simply noting down that
I’ve been to others in an attempt to keep this blog as a record of everything that
I do and have done for the past three years. Fuck. I’ll then write about what I’ve
actually been properly up to with isthisit? and my art practice towards the
end.
So, be aware that these have all gotten jumbled up, so in no
particular order, here’s what I’ve been going to since June. June, for fuck
sake.
Austrain Cultural Forum had a fun group show on ages ago
called Only Human, Believing the
Strangest Things, Loving the Alien, which was a great show that I’ve
completely forgotten. I also went to another one there last week called Emotion + the Tech(no)body, more great
work, particularly a series of pieces that were basically electronic bugs that
made sounds that was by a collaborative duo made up of artists Davide
Bevilacqua & Veronika Krenn. I’d highly recommend seeing the show, only
open on weekdays.
I probably mentioned it before but I went to a mass of
degrees show too. Goldsmiths MA was full of great things, BA was okay. Chelsea
BA was okay too, surprisingly liked a few things there. BA and MA at Slade was
solid, a variety of enjoyable things. CSM MA/BA was fun too, although if I
remember correctly nothing I loved. RCA was great, as always. Although, it was
so far in the past now, who actually cares?
Megan Plunkett at Emalin, basically the same image repeated
over and over again. Obviously it had been developed differently, or slightly
changed, but in reality it was just boring and I stayed for about as long as it
takes to do an Instagram story with a bored face.
Nathaniel Rackowe at Fold, if I remember correctly, was
another boring show of assemblage work. I think? Or maybe it was a little better than that?
Morgan Quaintance’s curated show at Pi Artworks called
Letters from Istanbul was solid, very much throwing everything up there, very
busy, but nicely considered works of art.
I went to a load of shows at arebyte LASER, I myself helped
on one of them with an online show in conjunction with Eden Mitsenmacher’s solo
there. Anyway, Louise Ashcroft had a disturbing show there with real pigs ears
and lots of cardboard boxes.
Marc Blazel had a really nice duo show about video games and loss.
Cajsa von Zeipel at Arcadia Missa was very good, creating a
set of figures in a sort of sexualised cult type thing. I remember it fondly.
Jonathan Baldock at CGP London was good, he makes some very
grabby work it seems. Apologies if you’re here to actually gather some genuine critique
right now…
Gossamer Fog is an amazing exhibition space that has put on
some of my favourite shows in their small space in Deptford. Relics From The
De-Crypt was great, it was where I first saw the work of Tom Railton, who had
work in the exhibition I curated in Berlin this summer, more on that later on.
I also went there again the other day to check out a
different show called Ambient Inclusion, about computer generated graphics
among other things. They choose good artists.
Justin Fitzpatrick’s solo show at Seventeen Gallery was
great, some beautiful sculptural wall based swan works. I bet they all sold.
Gabriel Kuri at Sadie Coles was really crispy, beautiful metal
plinths evocative of fast food spaces with fast food items embedded within.
Really nice.
Ann Cathrin November Hoibo at Carl Freedman. Don’t remember,
don’t care, obviously.
Bernar Venet at Blain Southern, also don’t care.
The Social Life Of Things at Corvi-Mora. Boring, mostly
boring, more uncaring work that I saw 3 months ago.
Aishan Yu at Lychee One, very very very detailed drawings,
that I didn’t care at all about.
Anne Ryan at Greengrassi, lots of content, still boring, if
slightly impressive.
}{ at Annka Kultys, an interesting premise that began with
having a photographer choose where the works went for the best photographs,
which then changed throughout the gallery. I turned up when there was not a lot
in there, as they were in the process of hanging stuff. Did I feel cheated?
Slightly.
Where to? At Carlos/Ishikawa was a very simple group show,
kind of fun if I remember correctly.
I also went there last week to see the Ed Fornieles solo
show, which was very good, although very packed in, unsure of whether there was
a proper curator or not involved. I need to go back I think.
Marian Goodman, Adrian Villar Rojas upstairs a while back
was kind of funny, showing off David’s legs…
Mark Leckey at Cubitt was good, a scale model of the
underpass from his famous film alongside a soundtrack and some posters. Kind of
fun.
Adult Swim at Pilar Corrias, was I the only one who was
disappointed that they hadn’t literally joined up with the programming network
to create some incredibly obtuse exhibition?
Felix Treadwell’s solo show Rupert and Friends at Union was
pretty great, a really ‘nice’ press release behind the works alongside some
well done paintings. I like that space.
Monira Al Qadiri’s solo show at Gasworks was great,
rebuilding a classic American diner within the gallery space alongside a large
floating rotating burger on a plinth? I’m very much in.
On Cold Spring Lane at Assembly Point was a solid, nice
show.
Last week I went to the recent show there called Future
Fictions, an amazing show curated by Mattia Giussani. I highly recommend going,
amazing VR.
Nature of the Hunt at Auto Italia was fun, women in films
being portrayed as violent beasts, etc. Very good.
Cell Project Space with Step into Spring, I think it was
good? Their shows are usually good.
People See Nothing at Division of Labour was solid, subtle wall
paintings and floor sculptures.
Super Yonic art festival in Peckham was good, although
charging for beer when you have a sponsor? Really no fun at all.
Sarah Burger at Vitrine Gallery was boring, even after
hearing her talk about the work…
White Cube Bermondsey had a huge group show of female
artists, it was great.
THE WORST SEATS IN THE HOUSE, curated by IT’S KIND OF HARD
TO EXPLAIN at SET was a solid group show from this weekend, open for until the
1st if you’re on the island…
Jack Burton at Castor was boring to me, painting collages…
Marianna Simnett at Matt’s Gallery was obviously incredible,
very crispy video, very well filmed, very well acted with a mixture of obvious
and fun.
The Hive Mind at Koppel Project was good, it featured
literally all of my favourite people, but to me the space was a bit odd and it
didn’t ‘feel’ right I guess. Whatever that means…
Hannah Black at Chisenhale was fun, basically launching this
book with 2000 copies in the middle of this huge room, alongside stuffed teddy
bears, simple tiny clay sculptures and a bunch of shredders. So, what do you
do, but shred the books of course. You weren’t supposed to.
Andy Holden’s Natural Selection as part of the Artangel
project in London at the moment is quite momentous, you should go see and learn
about egg poaching and nest making.
Everything we see could also be otherwise (My sweet little
lamb) at The Showroom was very much, throw everything in. I dunno, I was there
for five minutes and ran off to the next private view…
Mimosa Echard at Cell Projects last week, it was kind of
okay, made up of a 120 minute film that I’m never going to watch, and who
really is? Especially if it’s super uninteresting…
Zhongguo 2185 at Sadie Coles at the moment is great, all
young artists from China, so super interesting, especially going with friends
who are from China to the private view. As Chinese artists aren’t represented
that well in White Cube spaces, when they are, obviously everyone turns up to a
show. An interesting phenomenon I guess.
From the Vapor of Gasoline at White Cube Mason’s Yard is
dull right now, lots of untitled work, which as always I fucking hate with a
passion.
The Ryder was good last week, although, basically taking
work from MA degree shows and putting it in a ‘proper’ gallery space, although,
if people are being paid is that such a bad thing?
Amar Kanwar at Marian Goodman was very dull, making me make
the very obvious revelation that a lot of art is just putting cultures, ideas,
etc, into a white cube space that ‘normal’, basically white, people aren’t used
to/aware of. Very obvious revelation, but one that probably needs revealing, wherever
I’m at in my ‘art career’.
Again, Gasworks, but this time a solo show by Zach Blas.
Very good, live action Tron like film, nice sculptures, all round solid show.
As mentioned before, I’ve been in Berlin a little too and
went during the art week, so saw a bunch there too! I managed to get into the
Berlin Art Fair, which was fun, although very dull, lots of paintings and lots
of general crap. A few standouts though, a drone filming people and turning
that film through a filter, Future Gallery had some nice stuff up too…
Duve Berlin had a boring duo show called
HURZLMEIER/FULLEMANN, which contained a very wanky press release. Like, maybe
the wankiest I’ve seen, due to it trying not to be wanky.
Galerie Noah Klink, a small space near the gallery I curated
a show at, had a nice show about waiting rooms. Art was a bit dull but the
space was fun.
I also went to Sprueth Magers, which I apparently have been
pronouncing wrong this whole time, to see the three solo shows opening there.
My favourite, of course, was the Jon Rafman exhibition, showing his Dream
Journal film which was about an hour long which you consumed whilst sitting on
these squidgy lounge chairs on a carpeted floor. Quite incredible really,
worlds within worlds, a looping masterpiece. I loved it basically, and highly recommend
going if you’re in Berlin or it comes to somewhere near you. You only really
get it if you watch the whole thing. If you don’t watch, it does all look very
random, whereas it isn’t. Not really, anyway.
Anyway, I think that’s my long list of shows that I’ve seen
but haven’t written about. I obviously went to Kassel and Venice too, which I
think I wrote about in my previous blog post, but not very well. They were both
great experiences, with Venice far surpassing Kassel in terms of quality of
work, or just contemporary work. But yeah, already looking forward to being
back in Venice, walking through the streets ready to look at some amazing art.
Let’s see what happens in the next two years, I guess…
Sometimes I do just think about what I actually want from
this experience, having people to talk to, living close to friends, enjoying
myself, learning, having a discourse with interesting people… I don’t know,
back to my months off… So, a few months back I still hadn’t put on The Muse
show, which went very well, lots of great artists involved, loads of people at
the private view, etc. It was a really great experience that I learned a lot
from. Mainly, having the space open by appointment, or having it open one or
two days a week, then the rest by appointment. Some people come in during these
times, but it’s fairly rare and mostly it was people who needed to use the
toilet. Towards the end I just ended up hating the entire experience. I think
it would have been different if it was just my job to invigilate a show, but as
it was my own curated show it made me a little sad I guess… Anyway, that
happened, the launch for the second issue was great, etc, etc.
I then also mentioned before about being asked to curate a
show in Berlin. That became a real thing, with them paying for my flight over
there, which was incredibly nice of the guys that run State of the Art. I
decided to put together an exhibition of work, at the beginning, which was
going to be work that had been reacted to by the ‘real’ world, artworks that
had broken out of the art sphere. This slowly changed into people who also
reacted to the real world, so basically any artist, which was a shame. I just
lost time as the project grew closer. In the end I think the show went well,
very good photographs were taken, lots of people at the private view and I had
an amazing time in Berlin. I now want to live there, haha…
Here's the press release for the show, originally inspired
by the HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US durational
artwork by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner. The exhibition was called ‘The Museum
Has Abandoned Us’.
I still haven’t put together the website tour for Rebecca, I
need to do that now I have less things to worry about…
The duo show with Molly Soda fell through due to lack of
organising on the curators side of things, which is sad.
I received a bunch of great submissions for The Wrong
Biennale pavilion that I’m curating, here’s the artist list, launching in about
a month and a bit.
On isthisit? I’ve started doing monthly shows now, due to
the lack of time on my part and wanting to give more prominence to the curators
who put so much work into their online shows. It also allows me to pick better
people! I’m slightly regretting this now however, as I have a lot more time
than I thought I would do, but I guess that will change…
I’m currently being interviewed for YAC (Young Artists in
Conversation), which is a very fun project published on the internet, featuring
a bunch of great artists who I admire. I’m very happy to be a part of it. It
should be being published soon, ish, although it’s a slow process as it’s more
of a conversation with no real deadline.
My own work has still been very slow. I put together a piece
of work for the Berlin show, which was fairly basic, two found videos layered
on top of each other. One of the LD50 gallery protest, the other of a future
military drone being prepped and used in battle. Something about modern
warfare, the two types, the new Antifa who is fairly prominent in the public
eye at the moment, protesting and fighting against the alt-right, tied with the
drone, far away and completely detached from the fight. The video was playing
from the Pepe USB that I got 3D printed. I’m fairly happy with the USB, but I
think the general video can be improved upon, as I literally put it together in
about 3 hours when I was on holiday. Boringly busy. Video piece here - www.bobbicknell-knight.com/pepe-the-redeemer
I also put together another video piece for someone else’s
Wrong pavilion, as I’m an artist and curator haha. This was another piece of stolen
animation; a future machine of some sort fixing holes in the road elegantly
filling various shaped holes, all set to serenade no. 13 in g major k. 525 eine
kleine nachtmusik. This is alongside a news style text whipping across the
bottom of the screen. The text is a rant of sorts about surveillance, the
tightening of online surveillance occurring across the UK due to parliamentary laws among other things. It’s
too fast to actually see what’s being talked about, similar to how no one
actually seems to care about the lack of freedom we’re able to achieve online
anymore, ignorance is bliss, which is the name of the piece. Instead of in
English however, it’s in Wingdings. A little clichéd, but funny. Video piece here - www.bobbicknell-knight.com/ignorance-is-bliss
Ah I was also in a group show maybe last month, where I
filled the space with fake security cameras. That was fun… Documentation here - www.bobbicknell-knight.com/guard-security-systems-ltd
Another new work was a ten day online residency, where I
kind of looked back on my time with Facebook, what I’ve learned from being on
social media, although all though the inhabiting a gross persona of myself,
someone who doesn’t keep their thoughts to themselves and is always annoyed
about little details within the Facebook system. I created a bunch of unique
images to post to the Instagram with, slowly turning from Facebook blue to a
dull grey, where I eventually quit Facebook. You can see the whole project by
going to my website, then clicking on the various images to be taken to the texts
on the Instagram. I think there are 63 in total, each of which has a unique
text written below on Instagram. If you’re interested, I would recommend starting
at the beginning of the residency, as my attitude changes as it moves forwards,
less reflexive and more in the now. It’s titled Wednesday, 29 August 2007 at 08:01 UTC+01, the exact time/date that
I joined Facebook. Link here - www.bobbicknell-knight.com/wednesday
Hmm, I’m trying to figure out if I’ve done anything else
during this time apart… I guess there’s issue 3 on isthisit?, which is going to
be about video games and online violence. I’ve had a severely lacking response
to my open call, so I’ve been emailing lots of great artists, who are mostly
into it which is great. Those are to be announced soon. The open call for that
is here if you’re interested - www.facebook.com/events/116531438997424/
Ah I’ve also gotten into a media partnership with Vitrine
Gallery, that’s quite exciting. Basically I promote them and they promote me.
That hasn’t fully begun yet though, so I guess we’ll see where that goes… I’m
hoping to do it curatorially, rather than explicitly doing it like a sponsored
ad or whatever.
Ah I also got interviewed by Kristina Pulejkova, an artist
who I had on isthisit? a while back, about my art practice and isthisit?. That can
be found here, it was really nice to do actually, very relaxed and some
interesting conversation: https://enterthepicture.tumblr.com/
Is that it? It might be, for now anyway. For the last few
days I’ve been making these fairly weird anonymous figures with scratches on
their bodies, being watched by technology. It started off as just making a new
profile picture, although now I kind of like them as art, in a slightly
distressing way though. I was looking into getting them printed on canvas,
although I’m not sure what the point of that would be… I’m not even sure what
they’re actually about yet, or whether I event want them to be art, or just
vaguely evocative images…
Anyway, until next week perhaps, let’s see what happens, let’s
write some things, make some art, and continue going forwards… I’m tired and
won’t be re-reading this for mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment